User blog:GlitterInformer/Smile Pretty Cure!/Glitter Force SDC: Music
[[User_blog:GlitterInformer/Smile_Pretty_Cure!/Glitter_Force_SDC:_Smile_Pretty_Cure!_novel|Return to the Smile Pretty Cure! novel]] | Return to the Table of Contents | Advance to Final Thoughts Sorry for taking so long uploading this one! I’ve had a lot to do lately. Plus, I felt that I should re-listen to all of the songs to see if my opinions changed since I first wrote the article. Before we begin, I’d like to give a quick shout out to a comparison between Smile Pretty Cure! and Glitter Force uploaded by a YouTube user named MagicalGirlStarlight. The review is a great overview of a bunch of the major changes the dub makes, and all in under 11 minutes! MagicalGirlStarlight gave a shout out to this sub/dub comparison, so I’d like to return the favor. With that, on to the article proper! Animation is a visual medium, but without audio, a lot is lacking. Great voice acting can greatly bolster an anime’s quality, but also influential is its music. Not only do we have opening themes and background music, but Japanese shows have the beautiful tradition of adding another song at the end of each episode during the credits. Additionally, anime has another great tradition: vocal songs outside of the show itself, but still affiliated with it. This type of song is the image song. Usually, image songs are sung by the voice actors of the characters, but they may also be done by the singers of the opening and ending themes. In this article, I plan to review every opening theme, ending theme, and image song associated with Smile Pretty Cure! and Glitter Force. But before I do this, I’m going to introduce my rating system and explain what each rating means. I’ll be using the tried-and-true 5-star system. However, each user of the system has different views on what constitutes a 5-star or 1-star rating. Here’s how I’m going to do it: * 5 stars (☆☆☆☆☆): An EPIC SONG. You will be seriously missing out if you don’t give it a listen. * 4 stars (☆☆☆☆): A good song that’s definitely worth a listen. * 3 stars (☆☆☆): An okay song. It’s kinda good, but you don’t have to listen to it. * 2 stars (☆☆): A tolerable song. It’s no chore to listen to, but it isn’t appealing. * 1 star (☆): A bad song. It may be painful to listen to or it may have an awful melody or rhythm, but whatever the matter is, it’s just bad. Just so you know, I don’t often rate songs with 5 stars or 1 star. Usually, it’s somewhere in between. Additionally, some of the original Japanese titles may have English words in them, and that’s because they were written that way. Japanese people sometimes use English to spice up their language, kind of like we use Spanish or French. With that out of the way, let’s begin! Original Soundtracks “Original Soundtrack” (OST) is just another name for background music. There are so many songs that go into an OST that it would be more trouble than it’s worth to review each one. To make matters worse, while all the pieces in the Smile Pretty Cure! OST are available here and here (and the movie’s OST is here), I haven’t been able to find the Glitter Force OST. It’s a shame; regardless of the quality of the OSTs, it’s a lot of fun to listen to them. You’ve been surrounded by them for the entire show, but it’s only when you take a listen that you realize their power. It’s a perfect blend of nostalgia and novelty. Without further ado, let’s get started! Smile Pretty Cure OST: Like most Pretty Cure OSTs, this OST is by no means iconic. Unlike shows like Tokyo Mew Mew, it isn’t a particularly stand-out part of the show. That does not mean that it isn’t good, though. The songs in the OST are rich with emotion, and they further bring Smile Pretty Cure! to life. Definitely worth a listen. Rating: ☆☆☆☆ Glitter Force OST: Unlike its Japanese counterpart, the OST of Glitter Force is one of its shortcomings. It does its job and usually fits the mood, but it’s ultimately forgettable and flat. I’d like to listen to it on its own, but as I stated above, that doesn’t seem to be a possibility. Rating: ☆☆ Opening Themes A show’s opening is an important part. Good opening visuals and a good theme song will kindle a good first impression in would-be fans. A bad opening, on the other hand, will leave viewers confused about what the show is supposed to be, or worse, turn them away. Now, of course, some people (like me in the case of this show), are going to watch the show no matter what. Even factoring this in, the opening is going to play every episode. A bad opening will detract from the quality of every single episode, and by extension, the entire show. This is the article for songs, so I won’t be judging the visuals of the openings (though I will say they are quite good). For now, we’ll just see the quality of the opening theme songs. As an additional note, all names will be listed with the personal name first and the family name last (e.g. “Miyuki Hoshizora” instead of “Hoshizora Miyuki”). I know I did the opposite with Japanese names in the actual comparison, but for the sake of consistency, I’ll be giving every full name the Western treatment. Let’s get to it! The opening theme of Smile Pretty Cure! is “Let’s go! Smile Pretty Cure!” by Aya Ikeda. Ikeda is also the singer of the Heartcatch Pretty Cure! opening theme and the Suite Pretty Cure♪ ending themes. This is a great song. It’s filled with energy and has a great tune. I will admit that it did get tiresome when repeated 48 times, but that’s the case with even the best opening themes. It’s not absolutely amazing, but it’s still really good. Rating: ☆☆☆☆ The opening theme of Glitter Force is “Glitter Force” by BLUSH, an international girl band that is also behind Glitter Force’s ending themes and would later do the opening and endings for Glitter Force Doki Doki. I ragged on this song in my review of the first episode, but it grew on me. Sure, it’s simple and somewhat repetitive, and it doesn’t have the energy of its Japanese counterpart, but it’s poppy and fun. Not only that, but’s it’s got an even better long version, as played during the English credits and all versions of Rainbow Burst. Rating: ☆☆☆ Ending Themes In most Western cartoons, the opening theme is all you get in terms of vocal music. However, anime brings with it an added treat of songs at the end of the episode as well as the beginning. Most anime dubs unfortunately cut these ending themes out, especially more heavily edited ones. Luckily, Glitter Force is an outlier; rather than cutting out the ending themes, they added eight more. Of course, they paid for it with the less-than-stellar CGI of the latter eight endings, but we’re not here for the visuals; we’re here for the music. Let’s start with the Japanese ending themes and continue into the realm of America. The first ending theme of Smile Pretty Cure! is “Yay! Yay! Yay!” by Hitomi Yoshida, who would later sing the endings for Doki Doki! Pretty Cure and Happiness Charge Pretty Cure! Unlike Ikeda, who has a more mature voice, Yoshida does a childish performance in Smile Pretty Cure!’s ending themes. Rather than being annoying, it works quite well for “Yay! Yay! Yay!” which matches all of the energy and fun of the opening theme. Rating: ☆☆☆☆ The second ending theme of Smile Pretty Cure is “Full Bloom*Smile” (“Mankai*Smile” in Japanese), also by Hitomi Yoshida. Unlike in “Yay! Yay! Yay!”, Yoshida’s voice is rather annoying in this one, but I’ve gotten used to it. It’s sad, because like “Let’s go! Smile Pretty Cure!” and “Yay! Yay! Yay!”, the tune is great and the energy is high. Rating: ☆ at first, ☆☆☆☆ on low volume or when you’ve gotten used to it. The first ending theme of Glitter Force is “Wake Up, Shake Up” by BLUSH. It’s a great debut, and it’s just plain too bad that the full version isn’t as long as its Japanese counterparts. It’s high-energy, well-sung, and its melody is great. You’ll like this one, even if you don’t like the dub. Rating: ☆☆☆☆ The second ending theme of Glitter Force is “What We Need”. It’s still fast-paced, but it’s nowhere near as interesting as “Wake Up, Shake Up”. It’s still a good song, though.. It also is the first in the unfortunate category of “Glitter Force songs that are all about dancing and partying, even though neither featured much in the show itself”. Not that I find dance parties an unacceptable subject for kids’ media (that would be silly), but it’s a strange trend in the dub. Nonetheless, it’s fun to listen to, but not as good as its predecessor. Rating: ☆☆☆☆ The third ending theme of Glitter Force is “Run (All Together)”. At first, I didn’t much like this one, but it grew on me a lot. Like the other endings, it’s fast and fun, with a nice melody. However, it still isn’t as good as “Wake Up, Shake Up”. Rating: ☆☆☆ The fourth ending theme of Glitter Force is “All Stars”. This one being a party song is justified because this song was created years before Glitter Force. This a great song, and probably the poppiest of all the songs in Glitter Force. Unlike most of the others, it highly resembles typical American pop, giving it a completely different feel from the other Glitter Force ending themes. Overall, it’s on par with “Wake Up, Shake Up”. Thanks to it not being originally created for Glitter Force, it’s got a nice, long full version that I highly recommend. Rating: ☆☆☆☆ The fifth ending theme of Glitter Force is “Believe in You”. This is the second song about partying, and it’s almost as good as “Wake Up, Shake Up”. Just because isn’t the best doesn’t mean it isn’t still great, though. It’s slower, but still fun and poppy. Unfortunately, Hasbro Studios blocked the official video of “Believe in You” in the United States on copyright grounds. This is completely ridiculous because the song originated here! The only place I was able to find this song on YouTube was in a fan-video that used the graphics from Mahoutsukai Pretty Cure! instead. Oh, well. Rating: ☆☆☆☆ The sixth ending theme of Glitter Force is “Yeah”. That title isn’t very good, but the song itself is. It isn’t amazing, but it’s a fun ride the whole way through. Rating: ☆☆☆☆ The seventh ending theme of Glitter Force is “You Can’t Stop Me”. It isn’t great like some of the others, but it’s still quite fun. The verses are weak, but the chorus is catchy and perhaps even dance-worthy. Rating: ☆☆☆ The eighth ending theme of Glitter Force is “Every Woman”. Like “All Stars”, this song has a full version unaffiliated with Glitter Force. Also like “All Stars”, it has the feeling of American pop, and it’s catchy and, you guessed it, fun. The only complaint I have is that a lot of good parts of the song were cut out of the TV-size version. Rating: ☆☆☆☆ The ninth ending theme of Glitter Force is “Lucky Girl”. Pun aside, it’s pretty good, but once again, not great. The voice filters for the singers that make their voices wobbly is odd. Also, it feels like the song ends too soon, cutting off the chorus. It’s still a nice song, though. Rating: ☆☆☆ The tenth and final ending theme of Glitter Force is a remix of “Glitter Force”. This seems like a dubstep remix, but I’ve heard much better dubstep-type music in my life. Dubstep is all about what you do with the synth, so you’ve got to be creative with it. This remix isn’t creative, so all we’ve got is a version of the opening theme without the verses and with slightly different background music. It’s a decent song, but it just isn’t as good as the original. Rating: ☆☆ Image Songs Last but not least, we’ve got the sub-only portion of this review: the image songs. These songs aren’t usually part of the anime itself, but they’re goodies that can be bought separately and are sung by the voice actresses of the characters and the singers of the opening and ending themes. Each of the five main characters gets two individual songs. There are also four songs sung by multiple of the girls’ voice actresses, one for Candy, one for the Bad End trio, and five songs by the singers of the theme songs. Let’s go! Miyuki’s first character song is “Happy☆Song”, performed by her voice actress, Misato Fukuen. This song is as energetic and bubbly as Miyuki herself, and Fukuen does a great job of conveying Miyuki’s character while singing. The instrumentation gives it a fantasy feel, and overall it’s a very nice song. Rating: ☆☆☆☆ Miyuki’s second character song is “Sparkling” (“Kira Kira” in Japanese). This is a great song that blows the already great “Happy☆Song” out of the water. It starts out as a relaxed, royal song before morphing into its energetic, techno core. Fukuen is still charming as Miyuki, and the tune is catchy and fun. It’s not quite EPIC, so I can’t give it five stars, but it’s absolutely worth a listen. Rating: ☆☆☆☆ Akane’s first character song is “Only Wonderful!” by her voice actress, Asami Tano. The song is beautiful and energetic, and Tano sounds great. The only problem is that Tano doesn’t sound like Akane. Her voice is too deep. That being said, the song itself definitely has Akane’s energetic and sporty personality. While the bridge dips down in quality a bit, overall, the song is bursting with amazingness. Rating: ☆☆☆☆ Akane’s second character song is “One for All”. This one is just as fun, energetic, and great-sounding as “Only Wonderful!” What’s more, it actually sounds like Akane is singing it. “One for All” is sporty, guitar-laden, and overall Akane’s best character song. Rating: ☆☆☆☆ Yayoi’s first character song is “100% Hero” by her voice actress, Hisako Kanemoto. I really wish this one had been included in the anime itself, because it’s a great fight song. It’s all about Yayoi’s fantasy of standing up and being a hero, and its character is punctuated by the guitar, strings, and video game-like synths. While Kanemoto’s voice sometimes struggles on the lower notes, it’s cute enough that I’ll give it a pass. Rating: ☆☆☆☆ Yayoi’s second character song is “Peaceful Days♪”. It’s more laid back than “100% Hero, but it’s still got a powerful, energetic sound to it. It isn’t as fun to listen to as “100% Hero”, but Kanemoto is as adorable as ever! Rating: ☆☆☆☆ Nao’s first character song is “Always with a Smile” (“Itsumo Egao de” in Japanese) by her voice actress, Marina Inoue. Unlike the others (notice how often I’ve used “energetic” and “fun” in this article), it’s relaxed and relatively slow. When I first heard this song, I thought it was boring, but after listening to it multiple times, it grew on me. Nonetheless, it isn’t as fun as the previous six image songs. Rating: ☆☆☆ Nao’s second character song is “SMILE FOREVER”. We’re back into fast and exciting J-Pop, and the intro with the guitars is so catchy and fun! The melody sung by Inoue’s isn’t as interesting, but Inoue’s voice is as nice as ever. It isn’t as good as the songs for Miyuki, Akane, and Yayoi, but it’s still a good listen. Rating: ☆☆☆ Reika’s first character song is “Your Mirror” (“Anata no Kagami” in Japanese), by her voice actress, Chinami Nishimura. It’s also the only solo image song to be played in the show itself. I’m a bit dismayed that “100% Hero” wasn’t played as well, but this song definitely deserved its position. It’s as calm as Reika herself, but it’s still powerful and uplifting, also like Reika. Overall, this song is an absolute beauty that is definitely worth feasting your ears on. Rating: ☆☆☆☆ Reika’s second character song is “The Path Continuing into Tomorrow” (“Ashita e Tsuzuku Michi” in Japanese). Like “Always with a Smile”, it’s more laid back than its counterpart. Unlike “Always with a Smile”, rather than going from lackluster verses to a pretty good chorus, it goes from pretty good verses to a beautiful chorus. The song’s lyrics describe a beautiful winter landscape, and its sound is as beautiful as its imagery. While I will admit I’m biased towards faster, more energetic songs, this song is definite nobility in the slow, relaxed category. Rating: ☆☆☆☆ Pretty Cure aren’t the only ones to get their own solo songs. Candy gets one, too, called “Smile~Kuru! Kuru!” by Ikue Ōtani. As Candy, Ōtani is just as friggin’ adorable as ever. Interestingly, Ōtani speaks in the song as well as singing. The song itself is nice, too. It’s fast and light, but not as intense as most of the other songs. There’s just one problem: Ōtani doesn’t stay in tune that well. I’m not sure if she’s doing that because a young kid like Candy wouldn’t sing that wonderfully, or if she just isn’t that great of a singer. However, she makes up for it with her sheer cuteness. And that last line, where Candy says that when the time comes to say goodbye, she’s be sure to smile~kuru? Way to tug on my heartstrings! Rating: ☆☆☆☆ While the singers of the opening and ending themes have their own solos, I’m saving those two singers for last because they aren’t voice actresses. Now, we’re going to get into the group songs for the characters. Let’s start with a duet called “Friends☆Jet Coaster” (“Tomodachi☆Jet Coaster” in Japanese) by Misato Fukuen (Miyuki’s VA) and Asami Tano (Akane’s VA). It’s a nice song that manages to be energetic and relaxing at the same time. The whole song is great, but the chorus is particularly wonderful. Definitely worth a listen. Rating: ☆☆☆☆ Next, we have “Rainbow-Colored Everyday” (“Nijiiro Everyday” in Japanese) by Hisako Kanemoto, Marina Inoue, and Chinami Nishimura (VAs of Yayoi, Nao, and Reika). While fast like “Friends☆Jet Coaster”, this one is unfortunately sort of boring. It’s performed well and the tune is okay, but it just isn’t as fun as most of the other image songs. Rating: ☆☆ All five Pretty Cures are involved in “The Best Smile” (“Saikō no Smile” in Japanese) by Misato Fukuen, Asami Tano, Hisako Kanemoto, Marina Inoue, and Chinami Nishimura. This is another one of the three image songs that got played in the show. In fact, this one was so good that they played it twice. It isn’t as good as “Your Mirror”, but it’s still a great song filled with energy and happiness. “The Best Smile” isn’t anything super special, but it’s worth a listen. Rating: ☆☆☆ The last song our protagonists participate in is “Let’s Laugh, Just Laugh, and Laugh♪” (“Warau Waraeba Waraou♪” in Japanese) by the voice actresses of Pretty Cure and Candy: Misato Fukuen, Asami Tano, Hisako Kanemoto, Marina Inoue, Chinami Nishimura, and Ikue Ōtani. I ragged on this song for being just okay in the review itself, but after listening to it more than once, I’ve found that it’s actually a pretty good song. Note to self: it is unwise to compare songs to “HEART GOES ON”, one of the best songs in the entire franchise. Anyway, this song is an energetic celebration of the girls’ happiness together. The only major problem I have with it is that Candy only gets speaking lines, so she doesn’t get to sing with her friends. It would be great to have the six of them sing together, but five is still good. Rating: ☆☆☆ The last of the character songs is “BAD END ~Future Stained Black~” (“BAD END ~Mirai wo Kuroku Nure~” in Japanese”), a song by the voice actors of Wolfrun, Akaoni, and Majorina: respectively, Tomoyuki Shimura, Hiroshi Iwasaki, and Miina Tomonaga. This song is very energetic, but as a villain song, it’s has a way different energy to it. It sounds like something Bowser would sing if he could (though I think he can only roar, poor guy). If these three are trying to make the world suffer with their song, they’re failing hard. Rating: ☆☆☆☆ With this, we enter the realm populated by Aya Ikeda and Hitomi Yoshida: those who don’t voice any characters but do provide the theme songs. Their role is so important that the creators decided to give them songs, too. In fact, they got a good bunch. Starting off, we have “Just Your Laugh” (“Kimi ga Warau Dake de” in Japanese) by Aya Ikeda, the opening theme singer. We aren’t off to the best start here. This song is slow and relaxing, but a little too much for its own good. Rating: ☆☆☆ Next, there’s “Smile Carnival!” by Hitomi Yoshida. The song itself is as fun as a carnival itself, making it a great improvement “Just Your Laugh”. There’s just two problems with it. First of all, like in “Full Bloom*Smile”, Yoshida’s voice is a little too high-pitched and is slightly annoying. Second of all, half of the chorus goes from singing to yelling (kind of like a call-and-response, but both the call and response are done by Yoshida), where it’s weak and a bit cringeworthy. Nonetheless, it’s still a fun song to listen to. Rating: ☆☆☆☆ Then, there’s “To Everyone of Tomorrow” (“Ashita no Min’na e” in Japanese) by Aya Ikeda and Hitomi Yoshida. This one is once again energetic, but like “SMILE FOREVER”, it doesn’t have much that makes it stand out. Plus, Yoshida’s toned down her high pitch and isn’t annoying anymore. Rating: ☆☆☆ Next, we have “Because You’re There” (“Kimi ga Iru Kara” in Japanese) by Aya Ikeda. This one’s a more laid-back song, which would be a nice change of pace, but it doesn’t have any charm to make up for its lack of energy. The chorus is good, but overall, it’s boring. Rating: ☆☆ Finally, there’s “Smile&Smile” by Hitomi Yoshida. We’re back into the realm of energetic pop, this time with a sci-fi-like feeling. Plus, Yoshida still isn’t annoying! This one’s a great listen. Rating: ☆☆☆☆ Movie Songs We’ve covered all the songs related to the show itself, but this article wouldn’t be complete without the songs from both movies. Let’s start with the opening theme of Pretty Cure All Stars New Stage: Friends of the Future. This movie’s opening theme is “Pretty Cure ~Friends Forever~” (“Pretty Cure ~Eien no Tomodachi~” in Japanese) by Mayu Kudou . I ragged on this one when I first heard it. I found it forgettable and bland and nowhere near the level of the previous All Stars opening theme, “Sparkling and Cute! The Great Pretty Cure Gathering♪”. However, upon listening to it again, I have no idea how I came to that conclusion. Not only is it fun, energetic, and great as usual, but it’s in fact a cut above most of the songs associated with Smile Pretty Cure! It’s almost a five-star, but due to a weak opening and a forgettable guitar solo that goes on too long, I’ll have to bump it down to the high end of four. Rating: ☆☆☆☆ New Stage also has an image song associated with it: “Friends” (“Tomodachi” in Japanese) by Aya Ikeda. I don’t remember if this song appeared in the movie itself, but I’m reviewing it anyway, of course. It’s nice enough, but it’s boring and forgettable, so I won’t rate it too high. The problem is that even though I found the song in order to make this review, it's gone from the Internet now! If someone can find it for me, that would be great, but I don't think we're missing out on much. Rating: ☆☆ New Stage starts a three-movie-long trend of using the current season’s ending theme instead of its own, so I’ll be skipping ahead to Smile Pretty Cure! the Movie: Everyone Mixed Up in a Picture Book! This one reused the show’s opening theme, but it had two ending themes. One of them was “Full Bloom*Smile”, reused from the show, but the one that played before it, during the credits, was “The Future Called You” (“Kimi to Iu Mirai” in Japanese) by Remi. This song is slow and relaxed, but unlike many of the other slow and relaxed songs on this list, it isn’t boring. In fact, it’s beautiful, and is a perfect match for the beautiful and sentimental movie itself. Additionally, Remi’s voice has a distinctive, choir-like character to it, making her sound much more mature than the other Japanese singers on this list. This song’s a great one to end this list on. Rating: ☆☆☆☆ And with that, we’re done! I’ve got different tastes than you, so you may want to check out the songs I rated at 2 and 3 stars to see if you’ll like them better. None of these songs were bad; I just found some of them to be uninteresting. Finally, you may have noticed that none of these songs were rated 5 stars, even though I was tempted to put a few of them up there. However, I save the 5-star category for those songs that are just so EPIC that they make your heart race, your spine tingle, and your spirit soar. Before we end this article, I’ll link you to some of the EPIC SONGS in Pretty Cure. I already mentioned "HEART GOES ON" from Heartcatch Pretty Cure!, but there’s also "Shining Star" from Futari wa Pretty Cure, “MOON ~ Moonlight ~ ATTACK” from Heartcatch Pretty Cure!, “Where Courage is Born” from [[Happiness Charge Pretty Cure!: Ningyou no Kuni no Ballerina|the Happiness Charge Pretty Cure! movie]], and "Rewind Memory" from the crossover movie HUGtto! Pretty Cure♡Futari wa Pretty Cure: All Stars Memories. There may be even more 5-star songs in the franchise that I haven’t heard yet; this was the first season of which I listened to all of the image songs, and I’ve still got some seasons I haven’t even touched. Happy listening, and I hope this encourages you to grow your playlist! Next time: I'm finishing the comparison once and for all with my final thoughts on the dub and the show overall! Category:Blog posts